Kukla's Korner Hockey

The jersey lay there on the ice, crumpled in an unceremonious heap. It had been thrown from the stands and landed at the top of the circle after a 6-0 Edmonton Oilers loss, discarded and left for the rink attendant to toss away.

It was a home blue Oilers jersey. Ales Hemsky’s No. 83, with an alternate captain’s ‘A.’ Likely $250 worth of jersey, abandoned like any hopes for the 2013-14 season, a parting shot from a Rexall Place fan base that can’t stand the losing anymore.

This franchise has given its fans one playoff berth in the past 10 seasons, inheriting the Toronto Maple Leafs record of futility with the longest playoff drought (this will be nine years) in the NHL. There has not been a .500 team here since 2008-09, and this club — in year four of what was supposed to be a rebuild — is the worst edition ever, currently playing .328 hockey. No Oilers team in the 34-year history of the franchise has been this futile.

The Edmonton Oilers — groan — are in 29th place again. The season was over before it started. New coach, new GM, same old laughing stock.

The disgruntled fan showed how he felt in clear fashion by tossing the orange and blue jersey (Ales Hemsky’s name was on the back) but the Edmonton Oilers coach stood up for his 29th place team — losers of six in a row, on pace for the worst record in franchise history — and called out the supporter prior to the Oilers’ game Monday against the Winnipeg Jets.

“That’s about as bad as it gets for me and I have great sympathy … I understand and I respect our fans, but that’s a bunch of bull-crap to me,” said Eakins.

“You see the credo up on our wall in our dressing room. The one thing that stands out in big huge letters is “I Am Never Out of the Fight.” Whoever threw that jersey on the ice, is out. They’ve given up. They’re a quitter. We don’t want that here.”